The day started out windy, damp and cold. The sun entered Libra around 10:00 AM and so autumn 2012 began. The temperature was in the mid-fifties and the sky was partly cloudy by midafternoon. It felt like the weather we have at Samhain. There was talk of a killing frost tonight. Some good folk from Madison arrived this afternoon to participate in Sweetwood Temenos’ ritual and then afterwards initiate one of their own as a Wiccan sister upon the path of life. The initiate chose Sweetwood Temenos as she had done a self-initiation here one night some time past and loved Sweetwood Temenos’ sacred circle. I like the solitude of the woods at this time of year. Most of the migratory birds have left for the southern lands and all is quiet in the woods except for a wood pecker, blue jay or crow. Some of the sugar maples were turning color; orange, red and yellow in their crowns and edges. I brought the ritual items to Sweetwood Temenos altar. First I took some spring water and washed the green granite altar top off. Then I left it to air dry. I went to fill up all the torches along the path from the field to the sacred circle in the woods. Along the path there were pretty light blue wild asters greeting me.I returned to the circle and set the Altar with the God and Goddess images, candles, incense, anointing oil, sacred whiskey, and water jar with spring water, Goblet, pentacle and platter with bread, the Stang.I then went to get kindling and start a fire in the center of the circle. Some good folk show up and brought wood into the circle for the fire and lite the torches. The sun was shining through the trees and setting in the west. The priestess and priest called the good folk to the center of the sacred circle and gather around the fire. We centered and raise our voice in an Om. The priest and priestess then cast the sacred circle with sound and incense and the good folk speaking from their hearts about and pouring libations to the elements defining the Sweetwood Temenos sacred circle; water, air, fire, water, ancestors, descendants and community. So the sacred circle was thus cast The priestess went and to the Altar and fetched the stang and invoked the Sun God. The Sun God spoke about the balance of justice, the balance of life and the balance of harvest. He is the champion and the advocate of the balance of the Autumn Equinox. He began the thanksgiving of the community and what it has given to him and the good folk of the sacred circle. He takes the goblet of water from the altar and gives thanks for what the community has given to him and pours a libation. He hands the goblet to the good soul to his left and so around the circle the goblet goes each giving thanks for what the community has given to them. At last the goblet comes to the priestess and the Sun God fetches the stang from the altar and invokes the Moon Goddess. The Moon Goddess speaks on the balance of the season and speaks of her dedication to the good folk and pouring out her love to the community; to be a hand of support to all who call upon her, to bring inspiration to the souls, to reveal the secrets of magic and the Mystery. The Goddess libates, passes the goblet round the circle and sacred fire, all speak what they will give back to the community and the goblet comes back to the Goddess. Sun God facing the Moon Goddess summons and calls forth her solar energy and the Moon Goddess thus follows and summons and calls forth the Sun God’s lunar energy. The Sun God holding the stang and the Moon Goddess holding the goblet each in the left hand reach out with their right hand and lay hold of the other’s sacred tool. They raise their arms and shout so mote it be for a year and a day! The Goblet is now with the Moon God and the Stang is with the Sun Goddess. The Sun Goddess goes, fetches the offering of bead from the altar, blesses it and shares it with the good folk of the sacred circle. The Moon God speaks about the water, the same water charge in casting of the circle, used in the thanksgiving and dedication to the community. He then hands the goblet round and it is shared, drank and passed between the men and women of sacred circle with these words “Water shared, is Life shared, is love shared, Thou Art God, Thou art Goddess”. The Goblet comes around and returns to the Moon God who makes a last libation, sets the goblet on the altar and returns to the Sun Goddess and says “All is in Balance, Man and Woman, Night and Day and Solar and Lunar, all equal”. It is time for me to leave for the Summerland to prepare a celebration and feast for the Sun Goddess’s return to the Summerland”. The Sun Goddess then says to the Moon God and so de-invokes him with these words “thank you for being here, blessed be and farewell!” The priest returns and the Sun Goddess says to the priest “it is time for me to leave as I go to bring spring and celebrate the sacred marriage at Beltaine in the Summerland”. The priest takes the stang from the Sun Goddess and says to the Sun Goddess and so de-invokes her with these words “thank you for being here, blessed be and farewell!” The priestess returns.The Priest and Priestess return to the altar and take down the sacred circle with incense and sound! They return to the center of the sacred circle, its fire and good folk. The priestess gives the final Rune while all hold hands, ending with “The circle is open but not broken, merry meet and merry part and merry meet again! Hugs and kisses round and all are smiles. All remain in the sacred circle to behold as invited guests to an initiation. Right at sunset on the Autumnal Equinox with Venus in the seventh house a woman took her first step unto the path of life as a Wiccan sister! Then all returned to the house of the priestess and priest for a yummy potluck with great talk and discussion! The pot luck was blessed by a local troubadour, a man of kindness and a guitar. All were filled with food and good cheer and the magic happen once again on Mabon (Autumn Equinox Sabbath) 2012 at Sweetwood Temenos!Never ThirstIacchus

Some 22 years ago (September or 1980) I had my first vision of the Goddess. She was middle age beauty with long black hair around her shoulders. She wore sheer golden raiment that was open from top to bottom revealing her sexuality and nakedness. She held in one hand a golden scale and in the other a goblet of fiery liquid. As she approached me she was standing on a mountaintop with clouds below and the sun behind her. Under her left foot was a sword crush, broken into two. This scene moved toward me until she was standing before me offering me the goblet. She said unto me “ behold my scales have to long been unbalanced, now is the season for them to be balanced once again”. “Drink of the fiery water that the high priestess of inspiration has made”. So I did and then the vision vanished.

Because of her scales she reminded me of the Goddess of Justice. In exploring this image I came to believe that the Goddess was Astraea, the Virgo or classical virgin who ruled the Golden age with Chronos. According to the Greeks the golden age was an age of goodness, where there was no strife or toil. The golden age was also a time when men shared women in common. This meant this was a time in which society was not organized around paternity and suggesting a matrilineal society where women shared men in a social system of complex marriage.

The scales for me symbolized the dynamic balance or equilibrium of wholeness. This means competing needs or wants are satisfied by behaviors that in the same act fulfill the competing needs or wants or a greater context, through an increase in understanding, has been found for competing needs or wants to be satisfied in an alternating and complementary manner. For me this balance is the measure of all things, it is the way of wholeness, equivalent to the way of the Tao. It is a way for those who seek to do no harm to minimize the harm they do to themselves, others and their environment. It is a balance that the sexual and reproductive agendas of humans, both male and female, can be place into and create harmony. In this balance the economics of free enterprise becomes a spiritual quest to approximate optimal profit rather than maximized profit, where self- interest is governed by empathy for the other’s needs or wants.

According to Greek myth Astraea continued to remove herself from the affairs of humans as each age passed because of their increased evil. Eventually she left Earth at the beginning of the age of iron and returned to the Heavens as the “Starry One”. In each succeeding age Greek society became more patrilineal until Zeus was able to over throw the age of sliver ruled by Saturn and established the Greek patriarchal society and the age of iron. However according to this myth the Virgo Astraea was to return to earth at some time in the future to bring a new golden age. Implicitly the return of Astraea meant a new order of justice, equality, prosperity and sexual freedom that was, as it were, a higher octave of the spiritual and social order of the previous golden age.

The Goddess Astraea acting as my muse and anima through inspiration and research lead me to the earliest ancient myths of the Indo-Europeans and proto Indo-Europeans. There I found the myth of the Sun Goddess, particularly of the Dawn, the Maiden Sun Goddess (Ushas, Eos, Eostre, Aurora). She had various lovers and multiple husbands including the “twins” and the Moon God. This Sun Goddess has been identified with the Goddesses Freya and Aphrodite.

I developed a myth where I believe the ancients figured out the procession of the zodiac and used this information to marked a significant change in cult and society. I speculate that this change in cult and society was the formal recognition of paternity with in their matrilineal way of life. The myth starts with two peoples celebrating an alliance of friendship and marriage, a herding people and an agricultural people, whose tropical and sidereal astrological information together allowed them to determine the procession of the zodiac. The sign chosen to symbolize this Golden beginning was Gemini, the friends, the twins or brothers. The Sun of the beginning, the dawn of this Golden Age was Astraea and this myth gives the Moon God as Chronos. The Friends parted ways, one becoming oppressive of the other until the day Astraea returns and her balance is righted and peace is made.

I found that 108 Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions (approximately every 20 years) times 108 = approximately 2,160 years = an Age/month times 12 = 25,920 years or a Great Year. So I looked for a likely starting point for a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction to determine the cusp of the Age of Gemini. I found an auspicious time when Jupiter and Saturn were conjunct 3 times over a year and the date of the last conjunction was 6580 B.C. Sept. 14th. I found by moving forward with the aid of my astrological computer program these times for the cusps of the following ages: Taurus - 4435B.C. Oct. 17th, Aries - 2290B.C. Sept. 22nd, Pisces - 145B.C. May 4th and Aquarius - 2000A.D. May 28th.

So SweetWood Temenos celebrated the myth of joining two ancient families/pantheons of Deities, one matrilineal and the other patriarchal in the year 2000 AD through marriage and announced the advent of the Age of Aquarius. This marriage was a peace pledge, one achieved by the Sun Goddess and Moon God of the matrilineal pantheon and the Sun God and Moon Goddess of the patriarchal pantheon joining together in a group marriage. Together they stand for Immanence of Divinity, Deep Friendship, Self Knowledge, Positive Sexuality, Ritual Attunement to Nature, Pluralistic Society and Ethics and the Greater Wholeness of Community. They created a two year cycle where one year the Sun Goddess and Moon God are stewards of the annual rituals and the next year the Moon Goddess and Sun are and so onward through out the Age of Aquarius. All who enter into these rites enter into these Deities’ circle of Freedom.

In 2001 SweetWood celebrated at its Freedom Festival the ritual return of Astraea, the Spring Sun of the Age of Aquarius. Astraea and her consort, the Moon God poured forth the waters of Aquarius and is the water that SweetWood Temenos offers in ritual. For SweetWood Temenos Astraea is a primary Divine patron.

During this season of the balance I give thanks for Astraea, the blessings of her balance that have been brought into my life and the grace she and her marriage have given to SweetWood Temenos. Never Thirst Iacchus